BUILDING TRADESMEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 40, 17 February 1939, Page 16

BUILDING TRADESMEN

SERIOUS SHORTAGE

WORKERS FROM OVERSEAS

(By Telegraph— Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, February 16.

Questioned concerning the shortage of skilled tradesmen in New Zealand, the Minister of Labour (the Hon P. C. Webb) said that if the building programme of the Government was fully implemented, anything up to 10,000 tradesmen could be employed.

"We are short of at least 3000 skilled workers in the Housing Department alone," he said. "Everywhere people are crying out for homes, and many cases are most pitiful. We are at least 20,000 houses short of requirements. This has been revealed by the housing survey undertaken some time ago. We want to build at least ,6000 houses a year to meet normal requirements. At the rate we are going we cannot even supply normal requirements, let alone catch up with the shortage.

"In addition we have public buildings to construct to the extent of over £18,000,000. That embraces schools, hospitals, departmental buildings, and post offices. Departments have sent in reports saying that the buildings included in the programme I have indicated are immediate necessities.

"Obviously, the more tradesmen we employ the greater will be the demand for unskilled workers, so that if we were up to maximum requirements in skilled men, there would be a shortage of unskilled helpers.

"The Government has decided to bring in skilled men from overseas. It has been reported that a considerable number of skilled workers are out of employment in Western Australia, and builders from that State have been making inquiries whether it is worth while transferring their plants to New Zealand and bringing labour with them. The Government is anxious to obtain artisans, and will see what can be recruited from Australia."